Retreat At Stella Maris, Penang

          I attented the Parish Leaders Retreat organized by my parish - Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, Ipoh for all leaders of the various ministries in the church. About 70 of us attended. I accompanied my BEC leader Lourdes for this retreat which was conducted by Dr. Steven Selvaraju (who has a doctrate in Theology) from the 19th to the 20th of April 2013 at Stella Maris (which means 'Star of The Sea' in Latin.  Our Blessed Mother is also known as Our Lady, Star of The Sea) in Penang, located just by the seaside in Tanjong Tokong . This retreat was focused on the theme: Discipleship Through Deepening & Sharing Our Faith with the objective: To Enter The Door Of Faith. On the first day we had 4 sessions, each  followed by sharing from a few members. The second day we went for a pilgrimage to The Assumption Church and Rev. Fr. Dominic Santhiyagu celebrated mass together with my Parish Priest Rev. Fr. Francis Andrew. We also visited The Little Sisters of the Poor. 

        
 I experienced the joy of sharing my views will my fellow parisheners. We shared our feeling and thoughts about Our Lord Jesus Christ and Our Mother Mary. This retreat really opened our minds and heart, taught us about leadership and helped us to have a deeper understanding of our faith. Praise The Lord! Well, I really enjoyed myself, the retreat and the beach....... I walked along the beach in the evening picking sea shells on the seashore and the next morning we walked along the beach around 5.50am and when the clock struck 6.00 we said 'The Angelus'! We had to go to the beach quite early as our session started at 7.00 am.

 

           I am sure that this retreat would have refreshed, renewed and rejuvenated all of the participants. Praise The Lord!

Chicken Cutlet

                    Cutlets....there are various types of cutlets - fish cutlet, prawn cutlet, sardine cutlet, mutton cutlet, vegetable cutlet......and the list goes on and on. Quite frankly, it is more or less the same method to make all these cutlets. I make chicken cutlets quite often. Some recipes need the chicken and some ingredients to be cooked first but I just mix all of them together and then fry the cutlets. Below is a very easy and quick method to make these cutlets.

Ingredients: 


Chicken fillets - 500 grams
Onions - 2 big       )
Garlic - 6 cloves   )   Chop all these into tiny pieces
Ginger - 1 " piece )
Green chilly - 3    )
Potatoes - 2
Chilly powder - 1 tbsp
Tumeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Breadcrumbs - 1/2 cup
Egg - 1 Gred A
Coriander leaves chopped  - a few springs

How To Make:

1. Boil the potatoes, mash them and keep aside.
2. Cut the chicken fillets into small pieces, pulse them using the blender to mince them and keep aside.
3. Put the mashed potatoes, minced chicken, the onions, garlic, ginger and green chillies which have been cut into small pieces into a big bowl.
4. Now add in the chilly powder, tumeric powder, breadcrumbs, egg, coriander leaves, a bit of salt and just mix it all together.
5. Take small portions, roll them into a ball and flatten them between the palms to give a round slightly flatten shape and fry them in the oil till golden brown. 

   

Moist Chocolate Cake

                    

Hmm.... I love chocolate and what more a moist chocolate cake! My children just love this cake and whenever I make it, it's finished within 24 hours. I found out after various attempts that one should make a chocolate cake using good quality cocoa. Yes, I used Delfi cocoa powder to make this cake and it turned out delicious. As for the topping, I didn't use cream instead I used milk and butter and it turned out OK.

Ingredients:
250 gm flour
225 gm butter
  60 gm cocoa powder
250 ml  milk
150 gm castor sugar
   2 eggs 
   1 tsp (10 gm) baking powder
   1 tsp (6 gm) baking soda
   1 tsp vanilla essence
   1 tsp nescafe granules
 1/2 tsp salt

How to make:

1. Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease and flour a 20 cm round cake pan.
2. Beat  butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  
3. Add egg one at a time beating well after each addition.  
4. Stir in the vanilla essence.
5. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Heat up the milk until warm and stir in the cocoa powder and nescafe granules until both have dissolved. 
6. Gradually fold in the flour mixture alternatively with milk mixture.
7. Turn the batter into the cake pan and bake at 170° C  for about 40 minutes. 
8. Check whether the cake has been baked by inserting a wooden pick into the center of the cake. It should come out clean.
9. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan and transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool completely.
10. When cool, cover the cake with chocolate frosting. 

    
Chocolate Frosting 

Melt about 150 gm of cooking chocolate in a medium bowl set over (not in) a saucepan of simmering water, stirring until it has melted. Then add in about 3 tbsp of butter and 2 tbsp of milk and mix it well into the melted chocolate until combined and smooth. Pour over the cake.

 
 

Chinese New Year - Lion Dance

                    The Chinese Lunar New Year was celebrated on the 10th & 11th February in Malaysia. During this season the Lion Dance is preformed to cast off the evil spirits and to bring good luck and fortune for the coming year. The Lion Dance has a deep relation with the Chinese cultural traditions. The dance form is an expression of joy & happiness. The Lion is regarded as a creature representing good omen. With it's strength it represents a powerful figure that protects the people from evil spirits . It is a dance preformed  during the New Year, cultural festivals, at the launch of a new business and even in wedding ceremonies. This dance is an auspicious sign in Chinese Culture and is preformed to the beat of a drum and clanging cymbals.

                    My neighbour staying opposite my house invited the dance troupe to preform the Lion Dance and I together with my neighbours watched this performance. Accompanied by the beating of a drum and clanging cymbals, 2 lions - one with the red dance costume denoting bravery and the other green denoting friendship and goodwill, approached the doorway of the house with specific steps and sniffed around - looking for evil spirits. The lions circled around dancing , stepped back, approached the door and sniffed again. The lions bowed 3 times nodding their heads up and down to the uncle and aunty of the house, which is a sign of respect  and good luck greeting, before entering the house. They then bowed 3 times again before the alter in the living room and danced around for a few minutes after which they left the doorway tail first, then the head.

                    At the porch, outside the house the lions danced again. They rolled some oranges which were placed down to those who were standing around - which signifies  that they are spreading good luck everywhere. According to the Chinese the words tangerine and orange sound like the words for 'luck' and 'wealth'. One lion with some coins in it's mouth then approached me and my other neighbours and opened it's mouth. We then reached into the lion's mouth to take the coins.

                     The owners hung a head of lettuce called the 'green' up against the ceiling of the house porch. The lion raised it's head up and picked the greens and spat out the greens, scattering the fresh leaves around - which means spreading out the good luck and good fortune to all those present. It then came outside the gate and from a pole hung a string of red envelopes. It 'ate' the money (this offering is a symbol of good luck and a reward for the lion for chasing away the evil spirits). After climbing down the pole, the 2 lions danced around. The house owner then lighted a string of firecrackers hanging from another pole. As the firecrackers exploded, the lions danced more frantically. The firecrakers are lit to ward off the evil spirits. After dancing to the explosion of the firecrackers, the lions then bowed 3 times again in front of the uncle and aunty of the house concluding the lion dance preformance.

                   

Rich Fruit Cake

                     Every year my mother used to bake this cake a month ahead of Christmas. After the cake is baked she will wrap it in aluminium foil and every once in  5 days she will drizzle the cake with brandy, wrap it back with the foil and keep it in the cabinet till Christmas. Well every year I too will bake my Christmas fruit cake but I will make it just a day or two before Christmas (saving on the brandy.....).  I don't like to use the mixed fruits sold  in the shops selling bakery supplies. I usually use the Nona Fruits Mix sold in boxes (325 grams) in the supermarkets because the fruits are quite dry and not sweet. I omitted the black treacle as I don't like the cake to be too dark in colour and the sugar I reduced from 225 gms to 100 gms as the mixed fruits are sweet. This recipe is taken from the back cover of the Nona Fruits Mix with slight alterations.

Ingredients:

• Fruits Mix              -   500 gm
• Superfine flour        -   250 gm
• Baking powder       -    20 gm
• All spice powder     -     3 gm
• Butter                     -  225 gm
• Brown sugar           -  100 gm
• Eggs                       -     4
• Chopped almonds  -   100 gm
• Chopped walnuts   -   100 gm
• Vanilla essence       -       5 ml
• Jam                        -     30 gm
• Brandy                   -     30 gm
• Treacle                  -     10 ml (I omitted this)
• Grated rind of 1 orange
• Juice of 1 orange  

Method: 

1. Sprinkle fruits Mix and nuts with brandy and orange juice in a bowl, cover it and keep it overnight.
2. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs one at a time thoroughly mixing before adding in another egg, then add in the vanilla essence and all spice powder.
4.  Fold in (do not beat with the electric mixer as the fruits and nuts will sink) the flour (which has been sieved together with the baking powder) and fruits mixture alternatively and mix thoroughly.
5. Pour this cake mixture into a 20 cm baking pan lined with grease proof paper on all sides and bake at 150°C  for about 1 1/4 hrs.

 

Vanilla Orange Cup Cakes

  Use to make butter cakes every other weekend, so I thought why not make cup cakes. So off to Wah Seng I went to get the muffin pan and paper liners to make the cup cakes. Some just fill the paper liners and set it on a tray to bake but this way doesn't hold the shape of the paper liners properly. Laying the paper liners onto a muffin pan really mantains the shape of the cup cakes. 

Ingredients:

185 gm self raising flour

  65 gm  flour

250 gm buttercup

120 gm castor sugar

    4 eggs

    1 orange (zest of 1 orange)

150 ml (juice of 1 orange + milk)

    2 tbsp almond powder

    1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

1. Sift the flours together. Add the almond powder and mix together with the sifted flour. Mix the zest of the orange with the castor sugar until the sugar turns orangish in colour.
2. Cream butter and sugar until creamy and pale in colour.
3. Beat in eggs one at a time thoroughly mixing before adding the next egg, then add in the vanilla essence.
4. Fold in the flour into the above mixture alternatively with the orange juice + milk.
5. Spoon the batter into a muffin pan lined with cup cake liners
6. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in a preheated oven 170° C.

Soya Bean Milk

            I love this drink - soya bean milk. My family enjoys this drink.  I do not like the ready made ones sold in bottles in restaurants and makan shops. I usually buy them from the random stalls as you can get fresh soya bean milk. Anyway nothing like making your own home-made soya bean milk. The main ingredients are soya beans, rock sugar and pandan leaves. You blend the soaked beans in a blender, strain the milk using a muslin bag/cheese cloth, boil the strained milk with pandan leaves and .....you get soya bean milk!

            I recently bought a blender which comes with a special filter add-on to extract soya bean milk from the soaked beans. It has an inner filter where you place the beans and the pulp will be contained inside the filter whereas the milk will be filtered out through the tiny tiny holes. Using this blender is so convenient. No need of a muslin bag or siever. Home made soya bean milk is not diluted as the ones you buy and furthermore is so so much more rich and refreshing.

 Ingredients:
125 gm organic soya beans
1 liter water
rock sugar
pandan leaves

How to Make:
Soak the soya beans in water overnight

Place the beans a little at a time into the filter attached to the blender, add water till it covers the beans and  whizz it for at least a minute.

Pour the filtered milk into a container. Remove the pulp contained inside the filter.

Repeat the steps until all the beans have been blended.

Do it one more time with the collected pulp - this filtered milk will not be so thick.

Transfer the milk into a saucepan, add pandan leaves (tied into a knot) and bring to a  gentle simmer over medium-low heat for about 5 to 8 minutes, stirring with a ladle regularly.

Pour some into a glass, add rock sugar which has been dissolved in some hot water and enjoy this home-made organic soya bean milk!

This soya bean milk can be kept in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days.